1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system capable of flexibly restricting the functions of an image forming apparatus in a multi-domain environment that manages users and office automation (OA) devices belonging to different areas.
2. Description of the Related Art
As discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-150336, an access control server issues an access ticket with electronic signature when a user is successfully authenticated in usage of a function of an image forming apparatus. The access ticket includes information relating to a user and various settings (e.g., the number of printable sheets) being set for the user. When the electronic signature of an access ticket is verified, a user can use a print or other function of the image forming apparatus.
In the above-described conventional system, an image forming apparatus managed by the access control server that issues an access ticket is required beforehand to obtain a public key of the server for verification/authentication of an access ticket. In general, each domain in such a multi-domain environment includes a dedicated access control server. When a user of a domain requests a print operation using a printing apparatus belonging to another domain, the user transmits an access ticket issued by a user's access control server to the printing apparatus of another domain.
Therefore, when an image forming apparatus of a domain receives a print request from another domain in a multi-domain environment, the image forming apparatus cannot verify an access ticket issued by a server belonging to another domain and therefore cannot process the received print request. Namely, the above-described conventional system cannot perform a print control according to an access ticket in a multi-domain environment.